You Are Still Good

Genesis 6 (selected)

8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
9 This is the account of Noah.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.

10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence.

12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.

13 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.

14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.

15 This is how you are to build it [deltails]: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. 16 Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you.

Can you really imagine what Noah must have felt like when God spoke to him about what was to come? But God laid out every detail for Noah - he obeyed - and for 120 years he built a vessel much like a giant cargo ship of today. He told his family and his neighbors what God had told him. He warned them to repent - yet only his three sons and their wives did so - and even at that we only know that Noah obeyed God and perhaps because his sons knew their father's relationship with the LORD was an intimate one - they obeyed their father, Noah... even if at that point they weren't quite sure about what God was doing.

God WAS Who He said He was... and God DID what He said He was going to do! God does not lie. Everything about God is good - in Him there is no darkness. He is faithful to carry out His plans.

Genesis 8 (selected)

1 But God remembered Noah [and took action] and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and He sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.

15 Then God said to Noah, 16 "Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it."
18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on the earth—came out of the ark, one kind after another.

I have asked the LORD recently what "thank offering" I could bring to Him for keeping my life in His hands - for saving me - and to thank Him for just WHO HE IS! I'm so glad that the LORD is showing me in great detail exactly what my "thank offering" is. No, I'm not building an ark.

Genesis 8 (continued)

20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
22 "As long as the earth endures,

seedtime and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

day and night

will never cease." [all emphasis mine]

I'm building Him an altar - a place to worship Him - in all the earth!

Stay tuned... there is more to come! Praise His Holy Name - My JESUS!

Let me end with a song from Point of Grace new CD = How You Live

You Are Good

POINT OF GRACE

Clint Lagerberg, Nichole Nordeman

When the sun starts to rise and I open my eyes
You are good, so good
In the heat of the day with each stone that I lay
You are good, so good
When every breath I take in
I’ll tell you I’m grateful again
When the moon rises high before each kiss goodnight
You are good
When the road starts to turn around each bend I’ve learned
You are good, so good
And when somebody’s hand holds me up, helps me stand
You are good, so good
With every breath I take in
I’ll tell you I’m grateful again

‘Cause it’s more than enough just to know I am loved
And You are good
So How can I thank You
And what can I bring
What can a poor man lay at the feet of the King
So I’ll sing you a love song
It’s all that I have
To tell You I’m grateful
For holding my life in Your Hands
When it’s dark and it’s cold and I can’t feel my soul
You are still good
When the world has gone gray and the rain’s here to stay
You are still good
With every breath I take in
I’ll tell You I’m grateful again
And the storm may swell even then it is well

You are GOOD

Choosing JOY,

Stephanie

[Led Home by the Shepherd]